30. Edward II and His Wife
King Edward II (1284 – 1327) was a poor monarch, but what damaged his authority the most was the perception that was a homosexual, and an effeminate one at that. That was a problem in a kingdom ruled by a macho warrior caste. Edward often promoted his male lovers to positions of power, only for those lovers to abuse those powers, to the disgust of the king’s subjects. His last major lover, Hugh Despenser, fit that pattern.
Edward made things worse by publicly fawning upon Hugh, which humiliated and alienated Edward’s wife, Queen Isabella. One of Edward’s enemies, Roger Mortimer, took advantage of that, seducing Isabella and making her his mistress while she was on a diplomatic mission to France in 1325. In 1326, the couple invaded England, executed Hugh Despenser and his relatives, and deposed Edward II. They replaced the king with his 14-year-old son, who was crowned as Edward III, with Mortimer as regent.